The Chamber View: Do bills address our priorities?

May 19, 2012

Despite having far fewer bills than in years past, the Legislature took action on 2,291 bills this session, with 1,219 introduced by the House and 1,072 by the Senate.

After a long session where the $11.2 billion operating budget (which was higher than last year and added more government employees) was not agreed to until 3:30 a.m. on April 28 (the latest a budget has been approved in many years, which held up the fiscal bills), 345 bills were passed, 179 came from the House and 166 from the Senate.

In total, only 17 bills passed as introduced, without modification (14 from the House and three from the Senate). As Sen. Sam Slom points out in his "2012 Legislative Session: No Respect for Hawaii Taxpayers:" the more a bill is modified, the more difficult it is for citizens to follow the actual contents in a bill. Further, he writes: "This year also saw more 'gut and replace' bills earlier and more often than ever before."

What priorities did these 345 bills address? We asked that question of the Legislative Reference Bureau. However, they do not have that information. They said some collect it, but they did not know who. However, they directed the chamber online to www.capitol.hawaii.

gov/report.aspx. There, under "Select a report," one can scroll down and select "Bills Passed" to see the list and details.

We have attempted to categorize the list using their "Relating to" description for each bill to give us a sense of the area addressed by the bill. Some apply to multiple areas and others, with more detailed research done, might be better suited in a different category. However, here is our first attempt to get discussion going on priorities, showing the number of bills that address various topic areas:

* 26 on business/industry.

* 19 on crime and the judicial system.

* 18 on health.

* 12 on appropriations.

* 11 each on special funds and taxes.

* 10 each on education, insurance and uniform acts and code.

* Eight each on agriculture, bonds, the environment and public safety.

* Seven on transportation.

* Six on elections.

* Five each on commissions, councils, employment, housing, motor vehicles, state offices and departments and utilities.

* Four each on civil issues, controlled substances and promotion of them, mortgages and foreclosures, pollution, property and protection.